Cards can’t hold City slickers

Nationwide Conference Woking 1 York City 2 EXTRACTING themselves from difficult situations has become the hallmark of Glenn Cockerill’s Woking but even the great Houdini would have been pushing his luck in thinking he could haul back a two-goal deficit twice in four days.

Especially against York City, who with respect to Altrincham, are not part-timers, nor are they a side who look capable of losing 5-0 at home to Dagenham — or anybody else for that matter. Cards’ spirited second-half fight-back, in which Jon Nurse scored his first and possibly last Woking goal at Kingfield, saw them pile on the pressure without creating anything clear-cut in front of goal and it was typical of the wonderful spirit Cockerill has instilled in his side. But City had already done the damage with two first-half goals and Billy McEwan’s men went on to make it four wins from five on their travels this season to end Woking’s excellent five-match unbeaten run. Judging by the way York went about their business in the opening 45 minutes it is not difficult to see why. Granted, Woking can blame themselves for a lack-lustre first-half showing in which they were forced to resort to long balls forward straight back to the opposition — while referee Steve Tomlinson missed an obvious penalty in the second half when Darren Craddock handled. But while the man in the middle was another who looked out of his depth at this level, there can be no disputing Woking were beaten by the better team on the night. The two goals flying winger Martyn Woolford scored were examples of superb breaks at pace, with Clayton Donaldson the architect on both occasions as he tormented the home defence. In midfield, sharp interplay involving Lewis McMahon and Steve Bowey had Woking chasing shadows despite the energy and work ethic of Karl Murray, restored to a more advanced role in the Woking team where his talents are better utilised. Recalled to right back, Simon Jackson looked out of sorts on the night, a fact Cockerill acknowledged, while he blamed his back four for poor decision making for the goals conceded. But overall, this was still a far cry from some of the performances of last season and if Woking continue to hunt for goals with the same attacking verve as in the second half they will get more positive results than not. Thankfully for Woking, one of the incidents Tomlinson seemed to get wrong was not sending off Jackson after five minutes for hauling down Woolford in cynical fashion when the striker was through on goal. Whether he was the last man was not clear but with no player nearby it prevented a goal-scoring opportunity and was the sort of infringement the red card rule was brought in to prevent in the first place. A sliced effort from Murray was the sum total of Woking’s goal attempts in the first half while York began to dominate. City got their first after 28 minutes when Donaldson burst clear, stepped inside Danny Bunce before setting up Woolford to score via a post. The second, five minutes before the break, saw Donaldson’s darting run end with him squaring to Woolford. Completely unmarked in the penalty area and on his favoured left foot, Woolford took his time before smashing the ball past Shwan Jalal. Neil Smith had been off injured at the time — soon to be replaced by Ollie Berquez having received a gash to his head — just as Altrincham had been down to 10 men on Saturday when Steve Bushell received treatment while Woking scored their first. What goes around comes around. The home team stormed out of the blocks in the second half and a mistake by City’s Anthony Lloyd ended with a six-pass hosts’ move before City failed to clear Bunce’s cross, Nurse snaffling the loose ball and shooting past Tom Evans from 10 yards. Woking were always going to get a late chance and so it was that four minutes into the five minutes of time added on, substitute Steve Ferguson was sent clear by Craig McAllister’s flick-on but he sent his attempt high over the bar under pressure from the onrushing Evans. The main concern for Cockerill now will be how to replace Nurse, who seems certain to return to Broadhall Way after the weekend and who could well feature for Boro against The Cards a week on Tuesday. Along with Goma Lambu and Giuseppe Sole, the Stevenage man has been the catalyst for the turnaround in fortunes for Woking, particularly in terms of entertainment value. “It’s been a good month for me and I’ve enjoyed it,” said Nurse. “I think the two managers have spoken and I think I will be going back so that’s what I’ll do because Stevenage are my club. “I’ve enjoyed my time here and hopefully I can go out with a goal and help Woking get three points on Saturday.” With Tom Hutchinson likely to return from a back/neck injury, Woking will have greater stability at the back. Because not even the best paid lawyer in the land could have put up much of a case for their defence on Tuesday night. Woking: Jalal, Jackson, El-Salahi, MacDonald (Ferguson 90), Bunce, Murray, Smith (Berquez 40), Oyedele (Sole 75), Lambu, McAllister, Nurse. Att: 1,907.